Special Report: Changing Skies Over Iowa Part 2

Darwin Stone, who lives near Hancock Field Air Force Base in Syracuse, N.Y., says his daily walk is missing something.

"It's just a lot quieter here now," Darwin said.

And Glenn Goodwin no longer looks up from his chores in awe to watch F-16s pass overhead.

"You used to see them flying down around here all the time, doing their manuvers," Goodwin said. "It was kind of cool to watch."

On March 6, 2010, the 174th Attack Wing flew the last of the F-16s to a bone yard in Tuscon, Arizona.

The men and women who kept watch over Manhattan after 9/11, now sit in ground-based cockpit, using the satellite dish outside to remotely pilot MQ-9 Reapers in Afghanistan.

"There was a ton of community pride, and I think there was a little bit of wariness over the change," said Kevin Schwab, vice president of Centerstate Corporation for Economic Opportunity, a 12-county business leadership and economic development company.

Schwab said while the F-16s will be missed, the changeover saved the 174th from disappearing all together.

"The economic impact they have here is over $100 million a year," he said. "They have a payroll alone that's upwards of $50 million a year. That's a blow to any community if you stand to lose that."

Not only did the Reapers save the unit,Schwab said sensor technology businesses have grown as a result.

"There is definitely an economic development benefit (to the change)," Schwab said.

Unmanned aircraft are saving the Air Force millions of dollars in equipment and fuel, and they are replacing manned aircraft at a rapid rate. Hancock Field Air Base officials say they've added more full-time jobs. Part of the reason is that in addition to the 174th flying missions from Syracuse, Reaper pilots and their support crews now travel from all over the U.S. to train here.

The pilots train at Hancock, but the Reapers are kept at Fort Drum, about an hour away. We were not allowed to get video of them in flight, and they are not allowed into Syracuse airspace until 2015, the deadline Congress has given the Federal Aviation Administration to integrate drones into public airspace.

Jerry Lotierzo, a New York peace activist, said if the people of Des Moines think traffic cameras are invasive, just wait.

"They are in no way comparable to drones," he said. "Drones can zero in on anything. The privacy issues is really paramount with us."

Lotierzo is part of the Syracuse Peace Council. Its members are also part of other peace groups throughout the region. Their numbers are in the hundreds.

Lotierzo, Ann Tiffany, Rae Kramer and Ed Kinane spent an hour with us going in-depth about their objections to remotely piloted aircraft. They said they don't support any kind of killing, but that F-16s are far preferable to the Reapers.

"It's harder to camouflage an F-16 operation," Kinane said. "People know what F-16s are from the ground and people can report seeing them."

Kinane referred us to a report compiled by the Stanford and New York University law schools called "Living Under Drones," which sums up research into the field of remotely piloted aircraft and their effect on war causalities, civilians and international feelings about the U.S.

"(Drones) often operate in remote areas, where there isn't press able to monitor the situation," Kinane said, "and F-16s don't begin to have the sort of terrorizing affect of drones."

Kramer said the drones make war easier.

"It lets us wage war even more steps removed from the blood and the gore and the pain and the disaster," Kramer said. "What it feels like to be in the middle of war and to be the causer of that pain."

"The soul of our country is being lost," Tiffany said.

Peace activists in Syracuse hold regular protests at the base and have been arrested on a number of occasions, some going to prison for repeatedly trespassing on federal property.

They say Des Moines will be a target, just like Syracuse, when the technology is turned against us.

"We've unleashed a monster," Lotierzo said.

Col. Greg Semmel, wing commander of the 174th, says his unit's mission is the same as it was when they flew F-16s. They protect and assist troops on the ground, with 1 percent of their mission involving firing the Reapers' missiles or bombs. But his pilots' names and faces remain hidden from public view. Semmel said it's to protect them.

"From anyone that would like to threaten them," he said.

Semmel said he nor any other member of his unit have faced any kind of trouble so far. He said the support from the community has been overwhelming.

"Those who understand what we do," he said.

While Goodwin finishes shoveling his driveway, his mind is on his brother, who is on his fourth tour in Afghanistan.

"I miss the F-16s flying around a little bit," he said. "But having family in the military, anything that keeps them from being the target and having to put themselves in harm's way. I'm all for it."

The head of Iowa's National Guard, Maj. Gen. Timothy Orr, said the 132nd Fighter Wing in Des Moines will transition to remotely piloted aircraft this year. He says the move is due to budget cuts, and he has been able to save all but 32 jobs.

Spokesman Col. Greg Hapgood said there has been no discussion of making Des Moines a training center and it's too soon to know what the economic impact on Central Iowa will be.

Hapgood said there are no immediate plans to keep any of the MQ-9 Reapers in Des Moines.

Copyright 2013 byKCCI All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Comments

The views expressed are not those of this site, this station or its affiliated companies. By posting your comments you agree to accept our terms of use. KCCI offers readers the ability to comment on stories with the understanding that these comments may be reprinted elsewhere on the site or used on KCCI newscasts. We ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, comments that don't relate to the story and any personal remarks. THIS IS IMPORTANT: KCCI does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not, at times, find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in this area. If you find a comment that is objectionable or offensive, click the flag that appears in the upper right corner when you hover over a comment. Flagged comments may be automatically hidden from comment threads. For comments to appear on the website and/or the mobile app, email addresses must be verified through Disqus. We ask the community to monitor this forum with the knowledge that KCCI does not regularly monitor these comments.